JAKARTA: The death of a four-year-old girl in Cianaga Village, Sukabumi Regency, West Java, due to a severe roundworm infection has triggered widespread backlash online, with netizens criticising the government's failure to ensure equitable healthcare access and effective disease prevention for low-income communities.
Four-year-old Raya passed away on July 22, but her heartbreaking story only recently gained widespread attention after Rumah Teduh, a local philanthropic organisation that supported her medical treatment, shared her journey online.
The post, which quickly went viral, revealed the extreme conditions Raya faced before her death and the volunteers’ failed attempts to secure coverage under the national health insurance program (JKN), despite multiple appeals to local health and social service agencies.
According to Rumah Teduh, Raya was taken to Syamsuddin Regional General Hospital in Sukabumi on July 13 in an unconscious state. At the time, she was showing symptoms such as fever, coughing and difficulty breathing.
Initially, medical personnel suspected a complication from tuberculosis, as her father is currently undergoing treatment for the disease. However, not long after being admitted, a live worm emerged from her nose.
Over the following days, hundreds of live roundworms, collectively weighing around one kilogram, were expelled from her body, with some measuring up to 15 centimeters in length.
Despite intensive care in the hospital’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), Raya passed away nine days later. Irfan Nugraha, Head of the Medical Response Team at Syamsudin Regional General Hospital, said Raya’s roundworm infection was among the most severe cases he had ever seen.
“Worm infections are actually fairly common in pediatric patients. But never this severe. In most cases, the worms can be detected early when they appear in the stool. But in Raya’s case, they had already grown large in number and size," he said on Wednesday (Aug 20) as quoted by Tribunnews.
Irfan said that roundworm larvae had spread to Raya’s internal organs, including her lungs and brain. “Worms were found coming out of her nose, which indicates that they had reached the upper respiratory or digestive tract. The condition Raya was in is extremely rare and a clear sign that the infection was already at an advanced stage. By the time she arrived at the hospital, it was far too late,” he explained.
Irfan suspects that Raya may have been infected while playing in the dirt around her home. She lived in a stilt house built directly over exposed ground, without any cement or asphalt flooring.
Ina Agustina Isturini, the Health Ministry’s Director for Infectious Diseases, said health authorities will launch an epidemiological investigation into Raya’s case to help prevent further transmission.
She also urged the public to implement basic hygiene and sanitation practices, such as regular handwashing, wearing footwear and avoiding open defecation.
“Some people mistakenly believe that taking deworming medication provides long-term immunity against worm infection, like a vaccine. But that’s not the case. If children continue playing in contaminated soil without proper hygiene, they can get reinfected. Taking medication is just one step, maintaining clean and healthy habits is what truly prevents infection,” she said on Wednesday.
She said that, overall, worm infections in Indonesia have been on the decline, particularly on Java Island. She added that the government provides free deworming capsules twice a year to all children under the age of 13 across the country, including Raya.
West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi said he would reprimand and hand out sanctions to local authorities found negligent in handling Raya’s case. He emphasised that Raya had been living in highly vulnerable conditions, her mother suffers from a mental illness and their home lacked proper sanitation.
Raya was often left to play beneath their stilt house, where the ground was littered with chicken feces, creating an unsafe and unhygienic environment for a child.
“Sanctions will be imposed on any official or region found to have neglected their responsibilities to the public. This is a wake-up call for all of us, for every government official, to regularly monitor what’s happening in their communities. Don’t turn a blind eye. Don’t just react when a tragedy has already occurred,” he said on Wednesday.
Local authorities have denied any negligence in Raya’s case, stating that they had provided several forms of assistance before her death, including regular distribution of nutritious meals to address her low weight and free deworming medication. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
